The Christmas Card, an IFP Companion
by RGoodfellow64
Summary: Something awakens Kate very early on Christmas morning.


The Christmas Card, an IFP Companion

by RGoodfellow64

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Disclaimer: I don't own Castle and I don't own Christmas but I celebrate them both.

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She woke up, suddenly wide awake and took stock of all around her. Police senses on alert, listening for any noise, anything out of the ordinary that may have awakened her.

After a few moments holding her breath, the only sound she heard was that of her husband, his breathing slow, steady, with the occasional little whistle and pop when he breathed through his mouth. She smiled as she heard that, still amazed how something so slight, so insignificant, could cause her heart to melt and she lay on her side, simply watching him as he slept.

Her smile turned to a grin as she thought to herself how very _not_ creepy it was for her to do that to him.

As quietly as possible, she lifted the covers and slowly got out of bed. The clock said it was still way too early to get up, even for her, but she was awake and knew she couldn't go back to sleep just yet.

Making her way out of the bedroom through the office, she smiled at Boba Fett, sitting on the leather couch by the desk, with his Christmas hat on. 'One step at a time,' she thought as she waved at the Star Wars character on her way out of the office. He was out of the bathroom and not in the bedroom, and she smiled as she recalled how she managed to make Rick think it was his idea to move the creature out of their en-suite.

As she made her way into the living room, her eyes glowed in the lights. He'd left them on again when he went to bed. Perhaps that was what awakened her. It was almost becoming a new Castle tradition, Rick goes to bed late, leaving the Christmas lights on, and she wakes up in the night to turn them off.

However, she couldn't do that quite yet. She stood in the middle of all the decorations and had to smile at the little plate of cookies and glass of milk on the coffee table. Alexis may be in college, but she still enjoyed Christmas the way her dad did.

Kate made her way to the couch, sat down and just enjoyed the lights and decorations. She smiled at how excited Rick and Alexis were that it snowed last night for Christmas Eve. Granted it was just flurries, but they lasted a long time and it made everything look just that much better, that much prettier, that much more…Christmas-y, if that was even a word. Kate shook her head, if it had to do with Christmas, then of course it was a word. At least according to Rick.

She picked up a cookie and took a bite. Toll House, naturally, you had to keep up with tradition for Christmas.

She looked around and saw again the few things that she'd added to the decorations. The ornament she had made for her parents when she was seven, which her dad snuck to Rick who said it simply _had_ to be on the tree next to the one Alexis made for him at the same age.

There were other ornaments on the tree, which her mother had loved. Some from her own childhood that were handed down from her parents. Rick said he felt he was opening presents as he unrolled what seemed to be miles of paper towels wrapped around them. What had been six inches wide turned out to be something much, much smaller when it was unwrapped, but her mom had to make sure they didn't break. Rick said he thought they could have dropped them from the roof of the loft onto the sidewalk and they wouldn't break, which earned him a backhanded swat on the shoulder.

She noticed something sticking out from under the plate of cookies and reached for it. It looked like an envelope and she held her cookie between her teeth as she raised the plate with her right hand and picked up the envelope with her left. A Christmas card. Putting down the plate, she held onto the cookie as she took another bite and looked at the envelope. She saw her name scrawled across the front in Rick's distinctive handwriting, and her heart skipped as she realized this was her very first Christmas card that was addressed 'To my Wife.'

She even stopped chewing as she gazed at the front of the card. 'To my Wife.' Those were words that a few years ago she truly thought she'd never see associated with her. She looked around the loft, and realized again that this was home, and in her mind had been home even before she moved in. Before she married Rick in that hospital room, this loft, that man, her _husband_, was her home.

She finished the cookie and looked at the envelope again before turning it over to open it. A big smile immediately filled her face as she saw the doodles that Rick had drawn on the back. He drew the top of his head in the lower left corner and little thought bubbles all over, stating in as many ways as possible that he loved her. She shook her head as her smile turned softer; thinking again, how much she loved him, before her thumb gently worked its way under the flap, opened the envelope and pulled out the card.

It was beautiful. That distinctive Christmas red, with gold letters and accents. Again those words, To My Wife, stared at her from the card. The words became fuzzy and she realized she was crying when a tear ran down her cheek. How she wished her mother was here to see, to share, this special moment.

She took a few moments to compose herself then opened the card. It was beautiful, and the words showed that he spent some time looking for just the right card. But it was his words, his thoughts that he wrote on the inside which made her cry all over again. It took her several tries to get through reading it. She closed her eyes and simply luxuriated in his words. Holding them close to her heart, her heart that was currently beating much stronger than before, overflowing with love for her man. Her husband. Her forever.

Taking a deep breath, Kate opened her eyes and read his words once again,

_You are the love of my life. _

_These words may be cliché for some, but for me, along with I Love You, they are the truest words I've ever written or spoken. Kate, you _are_ the love of my life. From the moment you walked into the Storm Fall party, my life hasn't been the same. It has been so much better than I ever imagined, and you know what I can imagine._

_You are the love of my life. _

_You love me for me, not some plastic representation put out for the public. You challenge me, you support me, you deter me when I go too far, and you push me when I hold back. _

_You frustrate me at the same time you encourage me. You inspire me to be so much more than I thought I was and you are with me every step of the way._

_You are my partner, my cheerleader and my supporter. _

_You are everything to me, and I will cherish you,_

_Always._

_Rick_

Kate put the card down in her lap and looked around the room once again. Martha said it looked like Christmas threw up all over the room, but to Kate, it was a sign of her future. She envisioned herself and Rick putting up the tree and decorations, and getting up earlier than they would want on Christmas day, as little feet ran to the tree to see what Santa brought them.

She realized with a start that she looked forward to children, a boy and a girl, and enjoying Christmas traditions from her family and his, to make them uniquely their own.

Theirs.

That word put a warm feeling in her, which spread throughout her body. She smiled and thought Rick wouldn't mind her waking him up, after all, it was Christmas.

She put her card down on the table and slowly arose from the couch. She decided to leave the lights on as she made her way back to their bedroom.

Theirs. Their bedroom. Their traditions. Their home.

As she entered the bedroom, her smile changed, becoming a little warmer, a little more calculating. She slowly made her way to the bed, and watched Rick as he slept, and as he made that little whistling noise she thought back to a few years before, when he had been upset that she didn't believe in magic. Her smile changed again and her love shown out. She did believe in magic, and she whispered, "Hey sleeping beauty," as she gently bent down to kiss him awake.

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**AUTHORS NOTE: I never thought I'd spend part of this Christmas writing another chapter for Is Forever Possible, (neither did Mrs. G) but my muse had other ideas. I hope you enjoyed it. **

**For those of you who celebrate it, I hope you've had a wonderful Christmas. For those of you who don't, I wish you the joys of the season.**


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